Σχάσον
cease, ease off, give up, relax
Translated by Andrew Morrison2 Apr 2003Vetting: high8 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] put a stop to, change course [from].1
Aristophanes in Clouds [says]: "giving up the horse-racing."2 Meaning stopping the horse-racing. Or [it can mean] retreating and withdrawing from the current pursuit; [it comes] from a metaphor of rowers; for 'to ease off' [is] as if the rowing oar separates and divides the water. And Pindar [says]: "he will soon have eased off the oar".3 Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "relaxing your thought[s]".4 That is, stopping, checking, being still.5 And elsewhere [sc. there occurs the phrase] "easing off an oar".6 Meaning putting a stop to the rowing. But some [say that] 'relaxing' stands for 'unfolding'.
Aristophanes in Clouds [says]: "giving up the horse-racing."2 Meaning stopping the horse-racing. Or [it can mean] retreating and withdrawing from the current pursuit; [it comes] from a metaphor of rowers; for 'to ease off' [is] as if the rowing oar separates and divides the water. And Pindar [says]: "he will soon have eased off the oar".3 Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "relaxing your thought[s]".4 That is, stopping, checking, being still.5 And elsewhere [sc. there occurs the phrase] "easing off an oar".6 Meaning putting a stop to the rowing. But some [say that] 'relaxing' stands for 'unfolding'.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Σχάσον· κατάπαυσον, μετάβαλε. Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις· σχασάμενος τὴν ἱππικήν. ἀντὶ τοῦ παυσάμενος τῆς ἱππικῆς. ἢ ἀποχωρήσας καὶ ἀποστὰς τοῦ παρόντος ἐπιτηδεύματος· ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ἐρεσσόντων· σχάσαι γὰρ δὴ καὶ ὥσπερ διαστεῖλαι καὶ διασχίσαι τὸ ὕδωρ τὴν κώπην ἐρέσσουσαν. καὶ Πίνδαρος· κώπαν ἤδη ἔσται μοι σχάσαις. καί, σχάσας τὴν φροντίδα. τουτέστι παύσας, στήσας, ἀτρεμήσας. καὶ αὖθις· κώπην σχάσας. ἀντὶ τοῦ τὴν εἰρεσίαν καταπαύσας. ἔνιοι δὲ σχάσας, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἁπλώσας.
Betacode
*sxa/son: kata/pauson, meta/bale. *)aristofa/nhs *nefe/lais: sxasa/menos th\n i(ppikh/n. a)nti\ tou= pausa/menos th=s i(ppikh=s. h)\ a)poxwrh/sas kai\ a)posta\s tou= paro/ntos e)pithdeu/matos: a)po\ metafora=s tw=n e)resso/ntwn: sxa/sai ga\r dh\ kai\ w(/sper diastei=lai kai\ diasxi/sai to\ u(/dwr th\n kw/phn e)re/ssousan. kai\ *pi/ndaros: kw/pan h)/dh e)/stai moi sxa/sais. kai/, sxa/sas th\n fronti/da. toute/sti pau/sas, sth/sas, a)tremh/sas. kai\ au)=qis: kw/phn sxa/sas. a)nti\ tou= th\n ei)resi/an katapau/sas. e)/nioi de\ sxa/sas, a)nti\ tou= a(plw/sas.
Notes (6)
- The headword is the aorist active imperative of the verb
sxa/zw [LSJ at web address 1]; cf. sigma 1767. It is evidently quoted from somewhere; perhaps Pindar (see n. 6 below); another possibility, to judge from the scholia thereto, is Euripides, Phoenician Women 454. - 1Same or similar glossing in other lexica; references at Photius sigma892 Theodoridis. ↩
- 2Aristophanes, Clouds 107 [web address 2]. ↩
- 3The Greek here does not make immediate sense. The translation given assumes
e)/stai ... sxa/sais is a sort of periphrastic future perfect (cf. Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb p.81), andmoi an ethic dative. The quotation does not appear as a Pindaric fragment in Snell-Maehler. It is also claimed to be Pindaric by the scholia to Aristophanes, Clouds 107db 6-7. But in these scholia at 107da 5 this line appears askw/pan h)/dh moi sxa/son , "ease off/relax the oar now for me", which is much more natural, though this too may be a misquotation of Pindar, Pythian 10.51, also (mis)quoted later in the present entry (see n.6). Cane)/stai have crept in from a marginal note into the misquoted version of Pythian 10.51? ↩ - 4Aristophanes, Clouds 740 [web address 3]. ↩
- 5"Stopping" is not a correct paraphrase of "relaxing" at Clouds740, where Socrates wants Strepsiades to "open his mind". ↩
- 6This seems to be a misquotation of Pindar, Pythian 10.51 (80)
kw/pan sxa/son , "ease off/relax an oar" [web address 4]. ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 3 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 4 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from1 entry
Neighbouring entries
Revision history8 revisions · last 12 Jun 2022
- tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
- tweaked link — Catharine Roth
- x-ref — David Whitehead
- augmented n.1; cosmetics; raised status — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- another keyword — David Whitehead
- modified links — Catharine Roth
- added keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Andrew Morrison